Flip Wilson

• Born: December 8, 1933
• Birthplace: Jersey City, New Jersey
• Died: November 25, 1998
• Place of death: Malibu, California

Actor

Wilson was the first African American to have a successful weekly hourlong variety show. He demonstrated that a black performer could not only carry a series but also be extremely popular with all segments of the television audience. Wilson undoubtedly paved the way for several other black entertainers to be awarded their own series.

Early Life

Flip Wilson was born Clerow Wilson, Jr., in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1933, one of at least eighteen children from a poor family. He grew up in foster homes and might have spent time in a reform school before joining the U.S. Air Force in 1950. Only sixteen years old at the time, he had to lie about his age to enlist. During his four years in the Air Force, he gained the nickname “Flip,” supposedly for his manic or “flipped out” personality.

Upon his discharge, Wilson found work as a bellhop and part-time entertainer at a San Francisco hotel. He worked for little pay in small clubs throughout the country, finally appearing at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. His initial comic persona relied heavily on African American stereotypes.

Life’s Work

Wilson’s regular appearances at the Apollo helped him build a national reputation, and he began performing on such television series as The Ed Sullivan Show, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, and Love, American Style. He was a guest several times on The Tonight Show, then became a substitute host.

After a successful television special in 1969, Wilson was offered his own series; With The Flip Wilson Show, which debuted in 1970, he became the first African American to have a successful hourlong weekly variety show. Other black performers, including Nat King Cole, Leslie Uggams, and Sammy Davis, Jr., had preceded him on television, but none was nearly as successful. Wilson’s show earned two Emmys in 1971, for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Variety Musical Show. Overall, it was nominated for eleven Emmys.

That same year, Wilson won a Golden Globe for the Best Television Actor in the musical and comedy category and a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for The Devil Made Me Buy this Dress. An earlier album, Cowboys and Colored People (1967) is credited with bringing him to Hollywood’s attention. By 1972, The Flip Wilson Show was rated television’s most popular variety hour and ranked in the top five shows overall. Wilson was paid more than $1 million a year. The series ended in 1974; reports conflict as to whether Wilson voluntarily departed or the show was canceled. His career declined thereafter, although he made many guest appearances on other series. His new shows, a 1984 remake of People Are Funny and Charlie and Company, which aired in 1985 and 1986, were unsuccessful, and Wilson made few television appearances after 1990.

While never completely eschewing the stereotypical caricatures of his early career, Wilson developed a style of deadpan stand-up comedy that relied more on storytelling than on throwaway gags. However, his humor was controversial, and some African Americans believed that it cast them in an unfavorable light.

Wilson created some wildly popular characters, particularly Geraldine Jones, a sassy, liberated black woman. Her much-repeated sayings included “What you see is what you get,” “When you’re hot, you’re hot,” and “The devil made me do it.” Other recurring characters in his act included the slick Reverend Leroy; Sonny, the wise White House janitor; and Freddy the playboy. Wilson invariably greeted the guests on his show with his patented “handshake,” consisting of multiple hand slaps and hip and elbow bumps.

Among Wilson’s few films were Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Skatetown U.S.A. (1979), and The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979). He also appeared in the made-for-television movie Pinocchio (1976). Wilson was married twice, to Lovenia “Peaches” Wilson and “Cookie” MacKenzie, and had five children. Both marriages ended in divorce. Wilson died on November 25, 1998, in Malibu, California.

Significance

Along with such performers as Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Redd Foxx, and Nipsey Russell, Wilson brought African American comedy to the forefront of popular culture in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Their irreverent humor was a revelation to white audiences who were used to the stereotypical black characters previously seen on television in such shows as Amos ’n’ Andy and Beulah. Wilson seemed particularly intent on presenting strong, positive images of African American women. He was a perfectionist who was involved in all aspects of his show, doing much of the writing himself and closely supervising his writing team and guest stars. The success of his series helped pave the way for other shows featuring African Americans, such as Good Times, The Jeffersons, and ultimately The Cosby Show. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in early 1972, Wilson was dubbed “TV’s First Black Superstar.”

Bibliography

Acham, Christine. Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004. Examines African American performers and images on television; contains a section on Wilson’s career, particularly his variety series.

Braun, Thomas. On Stage, Flip Wilson. Danbury, Conn.: Children’s Press, 1976. A brief biography intended for young readers.

Haggins, Bambi. Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-Soul America. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2007. Informative analysis of Wilson’s comedy routines and variety show, including his unprecedented level of creative control.

Sutherland, Megan. The Flip Wilson Show. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2008. Scholarly analysis of The Flip Wilson Show in social and political contexts.